Bat safety restraint

ABSTRACT

The bat safety restraint will keep all of the larger portions of a failed bat attached to the handle thus preventing them from leaving the failed bat and injuring other people in proximity to the failed bat. The larger pieces of a failed bat are the ones with significant mass to cause significant injuries.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of PPA Ser. No. 61/456,151 for the Baseball Bat Safety Device.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH Not Applicable SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM Not Applicable BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

This invention relates to the safety restraint in a baseball bat designed to prevent large parts of the bat from breaking off potently causing harm to surrounding people.

2. Background of the Invention

A small diameter hole is drilled through the center of the bat through the entire length of the bat. This hole will be less than 0.25 inches in diameter to prevent from removing a significant amount of strength from the bat and to prevent any significant performance change of the bat. A safety cable or strong fiber (3) will be threaded through this hole and attached at the top and bottom to the end stops (2) to hold this cable or strong fiber in place.

The cable or strong fiber must be snugly connected with no extra length. Added tension must be avoided to prevent a performance change in the bat.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION—OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES

Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:

-   -   (a) to provide a means to keep all the larger parts attached in         the event of a failure of the bat;     -   (b) to prevent the larger parts of a failed bat from injuring         people in proximity to the bat;

Further advantages are to provide a low cost and simple solution to reduce the chances of injury from a failed bat.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the present invention the bat safety restraint will keep all of the larger portions of a failed bat attached to the handle thus preventing them from leaving the failed bat and injuring other people in proximity. The larger pieces of a failed bat are the ones with significant mass to cause significant injuries.

DRAWINGS—FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows the side view of a bat with the Bat Safety Restraint installed.

FIG. 2 shows the top view of a bat with the Bat Safety Restraint installed.

DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   1 the bat -   2 end stops -   3 the safety cable or fiber

DETAILED DESCRIPTION—FIGS. 1 AND 2—PREFERED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment of the bat safety restraint is a small diameter hole drilled through the center of the bat through the entire length of the bat. This hole will be less than 0.25 inches in diameter to prevent from removing a significant amount of strength from the bat and to prevent any significant performance change of the bat. A safety cable or strong fiber (3) will be threaded through this hole and attached at the top and bottom to the end stops (2) to hold this cable or strong fiber in place.

Operation—FIGS. 1, 2

When a bat fails large portions with significant mass can break off and fly away from batter using the force developed by the swing. These pieces can be sharp and pose a danger to people in the proximity of the batter. The bat safety restraint keeps these larger portions attached to the handle. Larger portions will typically include a portion of the cross sectional area and remain connected to the bat safety restraint. (3) 

1. A bat safety restraint (3) passing axially through the center of a bat will keep the major pieces attached to the handle section during a failure of the bat (1). 